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Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Today not only would I like to introduce you to newly published author Lize Jacobs, but I am very happy to share with you her amazing and inspiring story on how she realized her dream and became an author! Read on, and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end, we are looking forward to your creative answers to Lize's question! ;-)

Inspiration / Writing the Book

by Lize Jacobs

I’ve been writing most of my life. When I write I am truly happy.

But I’ve never published a novel before.

In 2013, I decided to challenge myself and take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where you have to write 50 000 words in 30 days. It starts November 1st and ends November 30th.

However, I did not just want to write for the sake of writing, I was going to try and finish an entire story (Beginning, Middle, and End) by writing at least 50 000 words in that month.

A friend of mine told me to put a girl in the middle of the biggest music concert in London. Then I thought, ‘what if she got lost there?’ That was my starting point but I changed London to Paris because I just loved the setting when I was there in 2012. Now, all I had to do was figure out why she was there, where did she come from, and what she wanted out of life…easy right?

It was probably my toughest writing challenge to date. It pushed me but also gave me the freedom to stop thinking and stop analysing every thought, word, and idea.

I buckled down and tried to average 2000 words a day. Every additional word over 1667 words a day meant that I was ahead of schedule, but some days were tough and life does get in the way. And being the type of person that I am, I tried to edit each day what I had written the day before. Since I am from South Africa and the story took place in Paris, I also worked in a lot of research as I tried to keep up with the word count for each day.

The story just flowed, and the characters were very kind to me. By 30 November, I had finished the story and I ended on just over 50 000 words. I had successfully completed the challenges, which meant, I won! It was the first draft of Lost in Chance and I loved the story.

Don’t get me wrong, the story still needed a lot of work and over the next year I took on the challenge of editing it, and still maintain a day-job. Realizing that it was a story that I actually wanted to share with the world, I had some of my friends read it. They loved the manuscript but had a lot of notes and queries. So I edited again, and again, and again…

When I was finally sort-of happy with it, I sent it to a professional editor, who loved it by the way, but that meant another edit and revision, reading it out loud to myself and meticulously scrutinizing every fact, piece of dialogue and description.

I was finally 90% happy with the book. (Note: In my experience, no writer is ever 100% happy with his/her own work – it just doesn’t work that way. We always feel that something can be better.)

So, I decided to self-publish, which is a scary undertaking. Putting your work out there for people to judge is probably one of the most courageous things a writer can do.

That’s why I take my hat off to any writer, especially Indie Authors!

I was lucky, my novel got some great reviews and readers still contact me about how much they love the story and the characters. How they struggle to get the story out of their heads, how much they love the characters, how it made them dream and think about their own lives.

I love to get feedback from readers, and I love to interact with them. Ultimately, without readers, writers would just be insane people that live in crazy worlds, documenting their weird thoughts… Big Shout-Out to all Readers!

I quit my day-job just before the release of Lost in Chance and went back to freelancing, following my dream of being a full-time writer.

Recently divorced teacher, Chrisna, is stuck in her small-town life in South Africa.

One day, she angrily tells her best friend that she would like to throw her wedding ring off the top of the Eiffel Tower. So her friend gifts her a five-day trip to Paris, for her thirtieth birthday, to do just that.

Unsure of whether she would actually be able to do it, she sets off, unprepared for the life-changing adventure, quirky new friend, and romance that await her, as she gets lost in chance.

With her arms folded, Zenelda frowned at Chrisna. “Your itinerary is a bad idea. That’s no way to experience the wonders of Paris.” She sat up straight. “Do you have a pen and paper in that magic bag of yours?”

She hesitantly said, “Ja.”

“Please hand them to me and I’ll write down the only five things you have to do while you’re in Paris.”

Intrigued, Chrisna took a pen and a small notepad from her purse and handed it to her.

After a few seconds of scribbling, Zenelda handed the pad back to her, and Chrisna struggled to read the almost illegible writing.

“Go ahead. Read it out loud.”

Clearing her throat and shifting in her seat, she started reading. “One. Hug the Venus de Milo.” She frowned at Zenelda.

“That’s a fun one, but you have to be very quick, and able to disappear in a crowd.”

“Two. Get a mime to speak. Seriously?” She glanced up at Zenelda.

“It’s not impossible.”

“Three. Sing in front of a crowd of at least fifty people.” She looked up again. “Never going to happen.”

“That’s the easiest one!” Zenelda exclaimed.

“Four. Dance the Tango in the rain in front of the Notre Dame.”

Zenelda smiled. “I love that one but the weather does play a big part.”

“Five. Make passionate love to a Parisian.” Chrisna gaped at her, eyes opening and closing as though she were looking at a crazy person. Perhaps she was...

Lize Jacobs was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, where she still resides. Although this is her first publication, she has been writing since she could remember, not knowing that being a writer was who she truly was.

She has worked in the video industry for many years; Producing, Directing, Filming, Editing, and Scriptwriting. But her love for film has allowed her to Produce, Direct and Write several acclaimed short films over the years.

Privileged enough to have been able to travel overseas, to places like Alaska, Mexico, Tuscany, Munich, London, Paris and several African Countries, she has discovered a love for other cultures and the stories hidden in foreign locations.

She is passionate about the diversity and influence of dialogue and celebrates the art of story-telling across all genres.

Her aim is to keep publishing and write film scripts, telling stories which can linger in a person’s soul for a little while, hopefully bringing some joy.

Lize is generously giving away 3 e-books of Lost in Chance to 3 lucky readers. (Either in .mobi or .epub formats)

To be entered in the giveaway simply leave a comment and answer Lize's question:

Without having read the book, why do you think Chrisna would want to throw her wedding ring off the top of the Eiffel Tower? Be creative. (It does not have to be the correct answer, just an interesting one)

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